“And when it comes to making it easier to employ people, we are going to get to grips with some of the rules and regulations designed to protect employees, but which are actually stopping people getting jobs in the first place.

But if employers are so concerned about the prospect of being taken to tribunal that they don’t feel they can have frank conversations with their employees many companies just won’t feel able to create those jobs in the first place…

One businessman said he didn’t have the time or the money to go through the hassle of removing people in the UK – so he hires in the US…

So we will be consulting on the introduction of protected conversations, so a boss and an employee feel able to sit down together and have a frank conversation – at either’s request.”

We’ve already set out some potential pros and cons of “protected conversations”, from what we know so far: